1 . Background (excerpt) The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are pleased to provide this toolkit for your use and we sincerely hope that it will be a valuable resource for anyone planning and conducting training in the practice of open and distance learning. The development of this toolkit and others, in various topics related to open and distance learning, has involved the time and dedication of a number of organisations and individuals. The impetus and financial support which enable COL to embark on this undertaking came from the Asian Development Bank. Under the terms and conditions of the ADB Regional Technical Assistance Project for Capacity Building in Distance Education for Primary Teacher Training, COL was commissioned to prepare training materials for use in three training workshops in the Asian region.